Tokyo Orinpikku (aka Tokyo Olympiad) (1965)

A documentary on the 1964 summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Directed by Kon Ichikawa (FIRES ON THE PLAIN). I am not a sports fan and not particularly a big fan of documentaries but this is a beautiful motion picture. If its impact isn't as great as OLYMPIA, which chronicled the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, at least we're free of the unpleasant Nazi propaganda. Ichikawa doesn't concentrate on the victories so much as turn his eye to the humanity of the competitors and his visuals on the beauty of athleticism. These athletes push themselves to the very limit of what their bodies can stand. It focuses on the usual suspects but also on the more obscure Olympic categories like shooting and speed walking. The 1964 Olympics were the first games to be televised internationally and Ichikawa was hired to document the event. The Japanese Olympic committee was not happy with the result, they wanted a conventional documentation of the event, not the art film they got and they had Ichikawa edit it down to about 90 minutes. Ichikawa's theatrical cut pushed the three hour mark with an intermission which is the version I watched. If you're not a sports fan, don't let the subject matter put you off. This shows how a great film maker can make compelling Art out of something you (think you) have no interest in.